*** Official Warner Archive DVD Review Thread (1 Viewer)

[Eric Vedowski]

Here's my two cents after a quick spot check-i.e. I started the movie and hit 'next,' (& watched awhile) until I hit the last chapter of the movie:
A Lion Is in the Streets (1953) Full screen/Technicolor-Looks as good as similar Doris Day/WB DVDs of the same vintage-which means decent, unrestored condition. No trailer. Great Cagney.
The Crowded Sky (1960) The least, visually speaking, of the 5 movies I ordered. The fine print at the end of the opening credits exhibited a throbbing effect (sharp/fuzzy/sharp/fuzzy) The whole movie looked a bit fuzzy. No trailer.
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962) Looked very good to me, sound seemed weak, the only time I had to turn up the volume. No trailer.
Made in Paris (1966) Picture quality decent but not as good looking as 24 year old Ann-Margret. Trailer was 4x3 letterbox.
A Dream of Kings (1969) Best of the bunch visually-I imagine the source material hasn't had much wear & tear. No trailer.
That's my quick take. I would like to thank George F. & the gang at WBHV for the opportunity to have these in my house-especially "A Dream of Kings," never thought I'd see that on home video.
These were viewed on a 65" Sony DLP TV via a "so old it needs to be replaced" Sony DVD player.
Next purchase will probably be the Garbo silents.

 

[Matt Hough]

I watched THE SERGEANT tonight. There were some age-related white speckles throughout and the reel change markers were there, but the color was good and the close-ups were nice and sharp. There was some smearing in long shots, and I did notice a couple of places of interlaced shimmer, but they were minor instances, not major problems.

Sound had some hiss, but actually, the film looked and sounded much as I remembered it in the theater when I saw a reissue of it in a revival theater (remember those?).

 

[Jobla]

HEART BEAT is overall very good looking, to me. The old VHS is P&S and has a yellowish tint, as though a colorist was trying to create a visual feeling of nostalgia. The new DVD has much better color and is letterboxed, showing much more of the image.

The B&W films I ordered (BRAINSTROM, MY BLOOD RUNS COLD, THE MONEY TRAP, and ANGEL BABY) all look great, with proper letterboxing and good black and white contrasts. So far, I'm very happy with this program.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I watched "Convicts 4" starring Ben Gazzara, Stuart Whitman and Ray Walston. This film also had appearances from Sammy Davis Jr., Rod Steiger, Broderick Crawford, Vincent Price and Timothy Carey. It has been a favorite prison film of mine since my youth back in the 1960s. I thought the video presentation was very good except an 8 minute segment that was a little dupey and soft.



Crawdaddy

 

[Jay E]

Thanks for the review Matt, sounds good. This is on my list to buy the next time Warner has a discount.

 

[Jobla]

Robert, an "8 minute segment" sounds suspiciously like one reel of film. Perhaps Warner had to use one reel from a different print (than the main master print)? I'm only speculating.

 

[Powell&Pressburger]

Can anyone say if the Warner Communication logo on any of the releases from 70's into early 80's releases is intact or replaced? I believe most of the titles from that period were from the Turner MGM vault but wondered if anyone noticed.

 

[Steve_Pannell]

All I can tell you is on the 1 title that I bought (Doc Savage) the Warner logo is the same as it is on my laserdisc. Hope that helps.

 

[Mark B]

THE MATING GAME























THREE SAILORS AND A GIRL

 

[Charles H]

I purchased THE BIG CIRCUS thinking that it would be a camp classic in the spirit of WHEN TIME RAN OUT, and I was surpised how impressive it looked and sounded (beautifully photographed by Winston C. Hoch), the CinemaScope picture is vibrant and the sound is robust. Circus films are inherently corny,but the script is clever and I was surpised to find that it was actually more entertaining than THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH.

 

[Simon Howson]

Joseph M. Newman is a great unheralded director IMO. If you like westerns, check out his westerns The Gunfight at Dodge City and Fort Massacre.

 

[Pete York]

I'm not buying at the moment, but I certainly intend to. With that in mind I've been keeping track. The story so far for anybody interested:

Al Capone (1959)
“widescreen…Picture Quality..was very good---comparable to traditional DVD (pressed) releases for fifty year old films.” – Mike Kuhns #54

Along the Great Divide (1951)
“not widescreen…Picture Quality..was very good---comparable to traditional DVD (pressed) releases for fifty year old films.” – Mike Kuhns #54

Angel Baby (1961)
“look great, with proper letterboxing and good black and white contrasts.” – Jobla #63

Baby Maker, The (1970)
“Another interlaced, 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation, though with a seemingly better encode than DREAM LOVER by a wide margin, even though the print used for the transfer is also less than optimal…Dolby Digital mono encoded at 192 kbps. Flat with slight hiss, though not sounding noisy like a typical optical track from a print might, the audio was neither so good or so bad that I look exception to it…I'm grateful to have it on DVD in anamorphic widescreen even though it appears no effort was made to correct some of the color and contrast fluctuations in the print.” + screen caps – Chuck Pennington #8

Betrayed (1954)
“shot in 1:33 x 1 and is presented in Full Screen with the audio in mono. Again I only viewed a small portion of the DVD and the video was excellent.” – Ernest #1
“BETRAYED was protected for Academy, but was composed and intended for widescreen presentation.” – Bob Furmanek #5

Bhowani Junction (1956)
“shot in widescreen 2:40 x 1 and are released in anamorphic widescreen 16 x 9. The audio is 2 channel stereo. I just viewed a small portion of each DVD and the video I saw was excellent.” – Ernest #1

Big Circus, The (1959)
“surpised how impressive it looked and sounded (beautifully photographed by Winston C. Hoch), the CinemaScope picture is vibrant and the sound is robust.” – Charles H #70

Brainstorm (1965)
“look great, with proper letterboxing and good black and white contrasts.” – Jobla #63

Convicts 4 (1962)
“I thought the video presentation was very good except an 8 minute segment that was a little dupey and soft.” – Robert Crawford #64

Crowded Sky, The (1960)
“looks barely better than VHS” – BillyFeldman #58
“The least, visually speaking, of the 5 movies I ordered[A Lion is in the Streets, The Crowded Sky, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Made in Paris, A Dream of Kings]. The fine print at the end of the opening credits exhibited a throbbing effect (sharp/fuzzy/sharp/fuzzy) The whole movie looked a bit fuzzy. No trailer.” – Eric Vedowski #61

D.I., The (1957)
“looks okay” – BillyFeldman #58

Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975)
“anamorphic widescreen in [its] original 1.85:1 aspect ratio…some minor (very minor) debris in the first few minutes which shows that it might receive further restoration in the future. The picture quality of the remainder of the film seems almost pristine. A trailer for the film is included on this DVD, and if you want to see how bad this film could look, then look no further than this unrestored trailer in 1.33.1 aspect ratio.” – Timothy E #24

Dream Lover (1986)
“The image is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen from a rather grainy and speckled element. Darker scenes, of which there are many, are rather murky with ill-defined contrast and compression blockiness. Exterior daylight scenes fare quite well with decent contrast and lighter grain, though the transfer never quite reaches beyond simply average even during its best moments. The encoding, however, introduces some major problems. Aside from the disappointment of being an interlaced encode, there is some strange vertical strobing in many of the dark scenes with the infrared lights…Though the packaging states mono, DREAM LOVER is presented in 2.0 Dolby Surround, and in some scenes is quite effective!...Well, at least this disc also came with a non-anamorphic widescreen trailer. Oh, and the movie is in anamorphic widescreen. Some of it looks okay. Sorry, not a lot of good words for this DVD, or for the movie. ” + screen caps – Chuck Pennington #7

A Dream of Kings (1969)
“Best of the bunch visually [out of A Lion is in the Streets, The Crowded Sky, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Made in Paris and this]-I imagine the source material hasn't had much wear & tear. No trailer.” – Eric Vedowski #61

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The (1962)
“shot in widescreen 2:40 x 1 and are released in anamorphic widescreen 16 x 9. The audio is 2 channel stereo. I just viewed a small portion of each DVD and the video I saw was excellent.” – Ernest #1
“Looked very good to me, sound seemed weak, the only time I had to turn up the volume. No trailer.” – Eric Vedowksi #61

George Raft Story, The (1961)
“widescreen…Picture Quality..was very good---comparable to traditional DVD (pressed) releases for fifty year old films.” – Mike Kuhns #54
“looks barely better than VHS.” – BillyFeldman #58

Grasshopper, The (1970)
“Presented in an interlaced, 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, THE GRASSHOPPER is quite watchable with only minor flaws consistent with the vintage of the film…There isn't much to report about this mono (DD 2.0 192 kbps) track: crisp-sounding music with low noise, lower in volume than I expected with no low end to speak of…The DVD from Warner Archive is satisfactory and better than I expected, though I do hope that progressive encoding as well as improved compression grace future releases.” + screen caps – Chuck Pennington #18

Heart Beat (1980)
“overall very good looking, to me. The old VHS is P&S and has a yellowish tint, as though a colorist was trying to create a visual feeling of nostalgia. The new DVD has much better color and is letterboxed, showing much more of the image.” – Jobla #63

A Lion is in the Streets (1953)
“Full screen/Technicolor-Looks as good as similar Doris Day/WB DVDs of the same vintage-which means decent, unrestored condition. No trailer. Great Cagney.” – Eric Vedowski #61

Made in Paris (1961)
“looks okay” – BillyFeldman #58
“Picture quality decent but not as good looking as 24 year old Ann-Margret. Trailer was 4x3 letterbox.” – Eric Vedowski #61

Mating Game, The (1959)
“I can't say I am overly impressed with what I saw. Video quality is quite watchable, but I would be very disappointed if this were a major studio release. Picture looked somewhat compressed as there were visible artifacts. The fact I was using a upconverting BD player probably magnified the transfer deficiencies. I mean, overall, the transfer looked just passable…audio..sounded very clean.” – Ronald Epstein #29
Screen Caps – Mark B #69

Money Trap, The (1965)
“looks great in its anamorphic scope transfer.” – BillyFeldman #58
“look great, with proper letterboxing and good black and white contrasts.” – Jobla #63

My Blood Runs Cold (1965)
“look great, with proper letterboxing and good black and white contrasts.” – Jobla #63

Sergeant, The (1968)
“There were some age-related white speckles throughout and the reel change markers were there, but the color was good and the close-ups were nice and sharp. There was some smearing in long shots, and I did notice a couple of places of interlaced shimmer, but they were minor instances, not major problems. Sound had some hiss, but actually, the film looked and sounded much as I remembered it in the theater when I saw a reissue of it in a revival theater (remember those?).” – MattH. #62

Sweet November (1968)
“It's just okay - quite soft - with what looks like a bit of edge ringing in some scenes. The software they are using for the compression seems to have problems with the color red…it did look quite soft and slightly fuzzy, like a dupe. Color was okay though, and the print seemed to be in good condition. I like that the original trailer was included. The compression and encoding didn't sport as many flaws as some of the other titles, but it was interlaced and lacked the fine definition of many other titles released to DVD from the same time period.” – Chuck Pennington #36 (screen caps), #59
“looks ugly, smoggy, muddy, with no vibrance to its look at all.” – Billy Feldman #58

This Woman is Dangerous (1952)
“This is the oldest film of the five I purchased from the Warner Archive and yet it has the best image quality! The image is framed at 1.33:1 and is impeccably clean with a grand grayscale, one that unfortunately shows up the limitations of the encoding…Presented in its original mono (Dolby Digital 2.0 - 192 kbps), the film sounds as other films from the era do: a bit shrill and sharp, but quite distinct and intelligible. Surface noise was never a problem, and I didn't detect any distortion or optical track funkiness…I'm pleased with the result, even if the fact that it is interlaced and features substandard encoding does give me pause. The theatrical trailer is also included, though not noted anywhere on the packaging or the Warner Archive website.” + screen caps – Chuck Pennington #16

Three Sailors and a Girl (1953)
“it does not look like a standard DVD...more like a VHS tape. The sound is good but the picture is not; one or so too many distractions (some flickering, some edge enhancement...).” – Edward Weinman #57
Screen Caps – Mark B #69

Westbound (1959)
“anamorphic widescreen in [its] original 1.85:1 aspect ratio…I found the video and audio quality to compare favorably with the other restored versions of the "Ranown" films on DVD...” - Timothy E #24
“looked decent, but was plagued with very minor video shifting and some minor compression artifacts…audio..sounded very clean.” – Ronald Epstein #29
“widescreen…color…Picture Quality..was very good---comparable to traditional DVD (pressed) releases for fifty year old films.” – Mike Kuhns #54

Wichita (1955)
“widescreen…color…Picture Quality..was very good---comparable to traditional DVD (pressed) releases for fifty year old films…quite a revelation. Aspect Ratio is 2.55x1.” – Mike Kuhns #54
“looks..good, which is a real treat” – BillyFeldman #58

 

[David_B_K]

The Mating Game looks quite good, IMO, if a bit soft. Three Sailors and a Girl is less impressive, but definitely better than a DVD-R recorded from TCM. Is that a reel-change marker in one of the Mating Game grabs?

 

[borisfw]

I received my 5 movies yesterday.Crescendo,Brainstorm,Big Circus,Money Trap and My Blood Runs Cold. I will post my opinion when i watch them.I do not have the audio visual expertise as some on the board ,but i will give my view.

 

[Simon Howson]

Yes, which suggests the transfer is from a print, but it looks like a decent transfer from a print.

 

[Mark B]

MATING GAME and THREE SAILORS AND A GIRL both contain reel change marks. Reds are problematic, both films are visually on the soft side, and the latter is full frame, which is not the intended ratio.

I've very pleased with this program, and the discs are passable. However, I'm not sure if I'll buy anymore unless they become available for about half the price. Neither disc is up to the standards of a typical WB classic release, but I am glad they were made available.

 

[cajunhillbilly]

I just ordered Doc Savage Man of Bronze.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Not official, but imdb.com lists Academy Ratio. Three Sailors and a Girl (1953) - Technical specifications

 

[Mike Frezon]

Wow, Pete.

The membership of this forum never fails to surprise--in a good way.

 

[John Morgan]

I received my first batch of Warner titles yesterday and was able to at least spot check them. I have a pretty good system with projection and a 103 inch screen. My bluray seems to do a good job of upconversion. I have just sampled scenes here and there.

THE ADVENTURES OF MARK TWAIN (WB 1944) Same master as used for TCM. It looks good, not great, but is an improvement as far as no TCM bug in the lower right corner and no cable compression problems. It has a great trailer that looks almost as good as the film itself. The movie is 132 minutes, but everything looked fine. I hope this one sells enough to lead to an official DVD release from the nitrate negative. A great Max Steiner score

CLOSE OT MY HEART (WB, 1951) Like the above title, it looks very good, but not great. A charming and heartwarming story about adoption and stars Ray Milland and Gene Tierney, with a nice Max Steiner score.

DARBY’S RANGERS (WB, 1958) A William Wellman film starring James Garner. It looks fine and is anamorphically enhanced and fills the screen top to bottom, something you wouldn’t get on TCM.

THE DEVIL IS A SISSY (MGM, 1936) Starring Freddie Bartholomew, Jackie Cooper and Mickey Rooney. The oldest film I have ordered so far. Again, it looks fine with good contrast and sound, but certainly not what you can look like with a new master.

I have another 5 films I ordered that are newer vintage, but so far they haven’t shipped. I also believe the price is a tad too much for these. If Warners is reluctant to lowering the price to ten or fifteen bucks, maybe they could have more discount codes for those who buy regularly. In any event, I am pleased. I do wish they could work on their web site. Half the films I can’t seem to preview the clips and those pop ups are frustrating.